Starting Advent With Casual Conversation
Advent Series Week 1
Hey everyone! This blog belongs to the “Advent Series” that’ll run from December 1st to January 19th. In this series of fictional short stories, I’ll be writing from different points of view, exploring how folks from various walks of life—from college grads to business executives to those in recovery—articulate why the meaning of Christmas, “God is with us,” matters to the people they come across. Through these fictional stories, I’ll be engaging with examples of how to have conversations (or not) about Advent in a variety of scenarios. Enjoy!
Luke stepped out of the elevator and checked his watch. 5:02. Perfect. He had just enough time to catch a cab and slog in traffic for a dozen blocks to make it to Bible study on time.
He hoisted his bag higher on his shoulder and tried not to drop his books. He knew he should’ve taken his backpack today. His wife of twenty years, Layla, had reminded him that the advent readers were delivered to the office, but he thought he could handle them. He no longer thought that as he entered the huge marble lobby and only barely avoided dropping them all over the floor like a grade-school kid.
All I need is a bully to smack them out of my hands, he thought, the books balanced precariously on his palm. He stopped by the front desk and tucked them against his side.
“Hey there, Luke!”
“Hey, Harold,” Luke responded, turning to the receptionist. Harold, an older man in his sixties, gave him a thumbs-up.
“Good day?” he asked.
“Always, or your money back,” Luke joked. This was their back-and-forth routine every day, without fail. Every Thanksgiving Luke gave him a big batch of his wife’s cookies, and every Christmas Harold had a batch of his homemade kombucha ready for Luke.
“It’s a bit wet out there,” Harold said.
Luke sighed. It was pouring out on the street, rain gathering in puddles on the sidewalks, yellow cabs flying by and sending showers of water on passers-by. It had been dark for hours, but Luke was still surprised every time he got off work and found it nighttime already. Lights glinted off store windows in hazy golden patterns, people huddled under umbrellas, necks and faces covered in scarves and hats.
“It’ll snow soon,” Harold observed. “We don’t have much longer of this rain, at least.”
“Either way, it looks like I’m getting a bit wet tonight. Always a pleasure, Harold.” Luke turned to leave, but Harold’s voice stopped him.
“What do you got there?”
“These? Oh, they’re advent readers. Had ‘em delivered to the office today.”
“Advent, huh?” Harold asked. “That’s the month of December, isn’t it? My wife gets the calendars with the little chocolates in the windows.”
“That’s the one,” Luke smiled. “It’s also an important Christian holiday leading up to Christmas, so my group and I use these books to study and worship together during this time.”
He waited a moment to see how Harold would react. He was prepared to walk out the door with an easy goodbye if the other man was disinterested or annoyed, the way so many people in the city were. It used to bother him often when he was a boy, but as he got older and walked more in his walk with Jesus, he found that it was easier to pay attention to when someone else was open to a conversation or not. He stopped himself from checking his watch. He could be a little late if need be.
“Huh,” Harold responded. “A whole holiday. How about that? I mean, I went to church as a lad and stuff, and know my stories and that sort of thing, but there’s a whole month of holiday? What’s that about?”
All around them, business people clad in black and grey were jabbering in cell phones and clicking their way across the floor. Luke paused. The moment felt right.
“Well,” he said, “Advent is the time when we wait for Jesus to be born. But it’s not just about waiting. It’s about learning to love Jesus more than whatever else I love. Like my job, or my wife.”
Harold’s eyes widened. “Man, I get the job thing, but your wife? Really? I don’t know about that.”
“I understand,” Luke replied. “I love my wife so much. I’d die for her. But she also can’t come before God. God has to be the most important thing in my life—the thing I love the most—and during Advent, I spend a lot of time waiting for Jesus to come. All that waiting shapes my heart to make more room for him.”
“Huh,” Harold said. He sat behind his computer, the light bathing his face in a fluorescent glow. “I don’t really know if I get all that. But it sounds nice. Knowing where you stand and what’s what.”
“That’s a way of putting it,” Luke replied. “Advent reminds me where I should be standing.” He felt the moment swell, then pass. They’d talked about it as long as Harold was willing, which Luke judged by the way the other man’s eyes slid back to the computer screen.
“Well,” Luke said, “you have a good rest of your day, Harold.”
“Guaranteed or your money back!”
Harold’s booming laughter at his own joke, a reversal of their usual, followed Luke all the way out of the building and out into the pouring rain. He protected his books with his suit jacket, hailed a cab, and drove away in the hazy night, two headlights clearing the way.
Advent Series Conclusion
2-minute read